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General discussion

Advice on custom built computer

May 11, 2017 3:32AM PDT

Hi everyone,
Planning to build a custom computer under 500GBP
Would appreciate some advice on the Specs I can get.
Usage: Multi-tab surfing on the internet, running basic software like MS, Spotfiy, No gaming usage or a lot of heavy software. Mostly need a fast and efficient PC for browsing, research and work

Plan to run Ubuntu on it

Thought about getting:
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K (4 X 3.7 GHz)
Memory: 16GB Corsair vengeance 1600 MHz(2X8GB)
Graphic card: GeForce GT 720
Mother Board: Asus A68HM-PLUS Motherboard (Socket FM2+, A68H, DDR3, S-ATA 600, Micro ATX, USB 3.0)
2TB hard drive( to create a windows partition)
Wireless Network Card
Extra Sound Card : Creative Blaster Audigy Fx 5.1 PCIe Sound Card with SBX Pro Studio

Any advice on whether its a good mix or not, whether I can enhance or cut-down on something then please let me know.

Cheers

Discussion is locked

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Re: custom built computer
May 11, 2017 3:55AM PDT

I can't comment on the processor (others will, probably), so only a few other remarks:

- If with "MS Software" you mean MS Office or other software from Microsoft: MS Office doesn't work in Linux, so you would need to dual boot Windows for that. We recommend LibreOffice for Linux, and Ubuntu comes with that.
- To just listen to Spotify or Youtube, the audio on any modern motherboard is more than sufficient. No need for separate graphics card. And I doubt if that software runs in Linux. Did you check?
- For the graphic card I'd start with the Integrated AMD Radeon™ R/HD8000/HD7000 and only buy a separate video card if you feel you need 3D support or so (unlikely given your stated usage)
- 8 GB RAM (probably 2*4 GB) is more than enough for your usage
- Consider an SSD for the OS and a HDD for data storage. Either put both Linux and Windows on the SSD (so you must choose when booting) or put only the OS you use most on the SSD to boot from by default

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custom built computer
May 11, 2017 5:33AM PDT

Thanks for the advice,

- I plan to use Libreoffice or something equivalent that opens doc,xls etc files, so not too fixated on MS
-Need to check about the graphic card, so what you are saying is that integrated graphic card which comes in mother board is more than enough to listen to music on speakers and head phones right ?
-I would like to keep the cost of graphic card to be low as I would barely do any gaming. Will also check about SSD and HDD, need to figure that out

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Let's get something straight
May 11, 2017 9:51AM PDT

A graphics processor does not produce sound.
Your mobo has integrated sound, that should work fine no need for a sound card.

If I'm reading the specs correct your mobo does not have integrated graphics.
That means you will need a cpu with an igp, like the 'A' series or a dedicated video card.

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Ram
May 11, 2017 5:52AM PDT

16GB is a little overkill for your usage, you won't hurt anything with the extra but it might not help you much.

Since your cpu and mobo both support 2133 ram, native, I'd shop for 2x4GB @ 2133.

Bin the sound card, you can add it later if your not happy with the integrated sound.

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Tiger Direct and Newegg
May 11, 2017 6:25AM PDT

you can piece together your components and buy to build yourself or they will build with the components you select.

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A few things.
May 11, 2017 6:41AM PDT
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AMD vs Intel
May 11, 2017 7:38AM PDT

Thanks for the advice. very useful links. Although the ones I see there , they are all using Intel processor. I decided to go for AMD as its cheaper and specs seemed higher than if I were to spend same amount in Intel.

Sound Card and Ram seemed to be much clearer. Although you got any advice as to whether AMD vs Intel ?

Thanks

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I'm a former shop owner
May 11, 2017 7:43AM PDT

And also electronics designer and author. You can find so many CPU war discussions but here, I buy the Intel for simple reasons. Mostly because they don't appear in the shop as often and when new AMD builds seem fine but when older you see the oddest problems. Not that we can't fix that with a new CPU and motherboard but after all I've seen, I'd just build a PCMR build since I want stable, fast and a good price.

And yes, the sound card area is a lot easier to grasp. Hope I saved you a few bucks there. You can always add one if you really feel it's needed but here with the usual HDTV sound is set over digitally and no sound card is used at all.